Aegis
by ladycordelia17
Summary: A response to one of SasukeBlade's challenges. Lydia tells the story of a powerful artifact, giving Khetala insight into a sinister demonic ploy. Ties in with "Secrets of the Lost City" and "Sword of Redemption." Rated for minor adult themes.


**_A response to the challenge _Legendary _in SasukeBlade's list of challenges. Lydia tells an interesting story about another of the more sought-after artifacts in the realm of Crystal Chronicles, unexpectedly giving Khetala a piece of insight into a sinister plot by the great demon Raem._**

_Disclaimer: I do not own_ Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles_ or any characters or locations within, only my Tipa caravanners and the legendary figures of the story-within-a-story._

**Aegis**

Sunset one day, the sixteenth day of the fifth moon, found the motley caravanners from the tiny village of Tipa camped at the pier of the Jegon River's eastern bank in wait for the ferry that would carry them across the river. Now the five of them sat together by a campfire, eating a meal of pork and boiled wheat and speculating plans for what to do when they were across the Jegon.

"Well, we went to Selepation Cave for myrrh last year, just before that disastrous trip to Conall Curach, so the myrrh tree there probably won't have had time to recover," David reasoned. "Probably what we'll do is go to Daemon's Court instead."

Lydia perked up at the mention of this dungeon. "Daemon's Court?" she repeated eagerly. "Then maybe if our luck finding artifacts is any indication, we'll know whether or not the story of the angel Nerissa and her shield, the Aegis, is really true."

"The Aegis?" Dimo Nor couldn't help but question. "That's a shield, right? If I'm not mistaken, legend has it that the Clavat-formed angel Nerissa will only ever allow a woman to carry the Aegis."

"Not just any woman," Lydia began to elaborate, "only a virgin, they say, may seek to carry the Aegis and, with it, the blessing of Nerissa's protection."

Anaїs Nin, who had filled the large cooking pot with soap and water to wash the dinner dishes, caught Dimo Nor's question and Lydia's explanation. "I'm not sure I recall correctly, but wasn't the Clavat maiden Nerissa one of the many charges of the angel Ardwynna over the centuries?" she asked, interested to hear the tale.

"She was," Lydia replied. "It was perhaps a few hundred years after the coming of the miasma, when monsters started terrorizing the world's four peoples. When Nerissa was born, a Clavat in the town of Tiarnan, or what is now Fum, the demon Raem appeared over her village and cursed her, foretelling that Nerissa would die when midnight fell to end the day of her twenty-fifth birthday—and not only would she die so young, she would leave one of the world's myrrh trees without a good memory to make into myrrh. The Lady Mio, Queen of Memories, sent the Lilty-formed angel Ardwynna to fight Raem and protect Nerissa. Ardwynna succeeded in driving Raem away, and under her care, Nerissa grew up to be a fighter, defending her home against the minions of Raem while the caravanners gathered myrrh. Nerissa proudly wielded a great scepter against the monsters, but her people knew her better by the shield that she carried."

"The Aegis," agreed David, "which came to be known as the 'shield of the virgin' because Nerissa swore that no man would ever know her, that she would remain a virgin unto her dying day, and refused the hands of every suitor who would seek to marry her. And she did have plenty of suitors—they say men of every race admired not only her beauty, but her spirit and determination. 'She carries her chastity like her shield,' her disappointed admirers would say, and she lived up to their word."

Lydia nodded. "And on her twenty-fifth birthday, the fatal midnight drew near, as Raem gathered his legions to overrun Tiarnan—Nerissa was but one of their intended victims," she continued. "Sensing that the curse on her charge neared its fulfillment, Ardwynna was slighted to realize that her own myrrh tree, the one atop Mount Kilanda, would take no memory from Nerissa to make into a drop of myrrh, for Nerissa had never known a lover's caress."

Anaїs Nin made a sound of disbelief along with her vigorous head shake. "Somehow that doesn't make sense, judging by the stories I've heard about the angel Ardwynna—if she's known as the angel of passion, wouldn't it satisfy her that Nerissa was clearly passionate about defending her village?"

"It would, unless the Queen of Memories only turns memories of lovemaking into Kilanda myrrh," Dimo Nor suggested with an offhanded shrug, even though amusement danced in his green eyes at the thought.

"Well, that would seem the case, because an hour before midnight that night, Ardwynna intervened, whisking Nerissa away from Tiarnan to explain Raem's curse to her and how it slighted her. Nerissa felt scandalized that even an angel would wish for her to break her vow of chastity: 'You would have me break my word, lay aside my virtue and my shield, for but a single memory? Does not the Queen of Memories punish with fury those who break their oaths, for they are sinners and must suffer retribution?' she cried out in her shock," Lydia went on.

"And Ardwynna implored her mortal charge, _'You fight against the Demon who has cursed you even now, Nerissa, and your pride would make Raem the victor, to complete his curse. For all your life you have fought against him—would you now give the Demon his victory, in this the hour of your death?'_ For minutes that seemed like eternities Nerissa stood, distressed over her dilemma, until she thought of what she hoped would satisfy her guardian-angel and at the same time keep her true to her resolve. 'I wish to become immortal,' Nerissa declared at last, 'if I must lay aside my shield and give up my virtue, I ask in exchange for immortality, that I would continue to serve Her Grace the Lady Mio as a Defender of the Four Races.'"

Now Dimo Nor was unable to hide his amusement any longer. "And which angel won the honor of planting 'the seed of eternal life,' as it were? Did lovely Nerissa then have as many suitors among angels as she did among men?" he couldn't help but ask.

Lydia fought an embarrassed laugh at the question before continuing, "It so happened that the place to whence Ardwynna had taken Nerissa was the sacred balsam-grove of the Clavat-formed angel Leoric, keeper of forests. Leoric knew of the curse that Raem had placed upon Nerissa and the demon's plan for bringing it about—and when he heard Nerissa's declaration, he admired her wit and her will to serve the good Lady Mio, so he entreated the Queen of Memories that it should be done. _'Nerissa's time is short, as is that of Tiarnan village,'_ he told Ardwynna then, _'and if this is Her Grace's will, then you must fight against Raem for the village, and in my welcoming arms Nerissa will receive the blessing of immortality.'_ So in all haste Ardwynna flew to defend the village of Tiarnan, while Nerissa finally laid aside her shield, the Aegis, and she and Leoric made love in the balsam-grove."

"But instead of scattering Nerissa's memories from her mortal life to the various myrrh trees of the world once he'd given her immortality," Anaїs Nin cut in as she finished washing the dishes, "Leoric must have turned them into a new myrrh tree, making it grow where Nerissa laid her Aegis aside."

"Raem, of course, had to have been furious over the good that the angels blessed Nerissa with," remarked David with dark derision. "The legions sent to overrun Tiarnan must have been mostly lizardmen, because it's obvious what happened next—once they'd regrouped from Ardwynna beating them back a second time, they built Daemon's Court around the myrrh tree that Leoric created from Nerissa's memories."

Only then did Lydia realize that someone was missing from the group gathered around the campfire. "Where's Khetala?" she asked, suddenly worried.

"She went in the direction of that old boat-shack," Dimo Nor was able to answer. "In the midst of you telling the story of the Aegis, she got angry about something and must've gone off to stew, but I can't tell what sparked her…"

Lydia found Khetala behind the boat-shack a short distance north three minutes later, and true to what Dimo Nor said, the Yuke woman was clearly furious. "_…that the Demon may compel her to fear good Mio's will…_so this was your plan, Raem? To deny the poor Clavat girl her birthright by making her so afraid she'd sooner die where she stands than face another, if you couldn't manage to draw power from her pain?" she fumed, smashing a boulder with her hammer. Around her pieces of rock were strewn about, other inanimate victims of Khetala's uncharacteristic rage.

"Khetala?" Lydia addressed her friend tentatively, unsure of what to expect when the Yuke woman was so dangerously angry.

But instead of continuing to rant, Khetala started visibly at the sight of Lydia, and hung her helmeted head in shame. "Don't tell me you heard my curses, Lydia," she groaned. "It was something of which I'm bound by an oath of silence never to tell another mortal."

"Was it something about the story of the Aegis?" Lydia questioned, full of concern. "You did say something about Raem intending to deny a Clavat girl her birthright by making her terribly afraid—I don't understand what it could mean."

"And it's better that you don't," answered Khetala shortly.

Khetala would never break her vow of silence to repeat it, but the story of the Aegis had given her insight into what was possibly one of the demon's most sinister plans to vie for domination of the mortal realm.

_**A/N:** In Greek mythology, the Aegis originally belonged to Zeus, king of the gods, but Athena, a virgin warrior-goddess, carried it for him quite often; hence I make the shield-maiden symbolize a virgin._

_**Another A/N:** For insight into the reason for Khetala's angry fuming, read my oneshot **Secrets of the Lost City** and my multi-chapter crossover-fic **Sword of Redemption. **When playing Crystal Chronicles, I noticed that if one went to the right treasure chests at Mount Vellenge for artifacts to aid in the final battle, one might get two out of three artifacts: a Defense +5 "Aegis" (permanently obtainable from Daemon's Court, Cycle 3), a Magic +9 "Ribbon" (from Rebena Te Ra), and/or a Strength +5 "Masamune" (from Kilanda). These three stories tie the artifacts together in a plot._


End file.
